Police arrest two for ‘cheating 15 senior citizens’ on pretext of collecting donations

An officer linked to the case said that there were about four cases registered at Agripada police station where senior citizens had been cheated by the accused. In all four cases, Sonawane would approach an elderly woman who would be walking on the road. He would claim to be collecting religious donations.

“As he would strike a conversation with the senior citizen, Sangita would reach the spot and start praising Sonawane. She would say that ever since she made a donation to him, her life has improved. She would thank him profusely and leave,” an officer said. This would convince the senior citizen to make a donation.

Sonawane would then tell the victim that as per the custom, she just had to give him

Re 1. He would then touch any gold jewellery that the victim would be wearing to bless it. The woman would then remove her gold jewellery and keep it in a handkerchief. “He would then ask her to take the Re 1 coin and touch it to a nearby tree. As the senior citizen would walk towards the tree, Sonawane who had the handkerchief containing the gold jewellery would flee from the spot,” a police officer said. Since there were four cases reported involving the same modus operandi, the police suspected that same people were involved in all four cases.

A team of Assistant Police Inspectors Nagesh Puranik and Sachin Khanvilkar scanned CCTV footage of the spots where the incidents took place and zeroed in on the couple. Eventually, police tracked them down in Chembur and arrested them on Saturday.

“During interrogation, the accused confessed to their involvement in the four cases. Sonawane told the police that he had been cheated similarly of Rs 25,000 by a group claiming to be collecting donations in the past. He then decided to use the same modus operandi to cheat others,” an officer said.

Senior inspector S Agawane of Agripada police station said, “We have found the involvement of the couple in four cases under our jurisdiction. We suspect their involvement in around 15 cases across the city. They also have cases against them in other parts of the city like Kolhapur.”